KOCHVILLE TWP. – Saginaw Valley State University President Eric R. Gilbertson and two of his executive staff members received 3 percent raises Friday.

The university’s Board of Control approved the raises for Gilbertson, Executive Vice President James G. Muladore and Provost Donald Bachand.

BCT: Under the circumstances, these raises are an outrage.

In June, the university announced a 5.9 percent tuition increase. The previous year, SVSU raised tuition by 6.3 percent. Gilbertson pointed to uncertainties in state funding to justify the most recent hike.

Indeed, these are uncertain times for everyone.

Workers in the private sector are repeatedly asked to do more, at times for less pay. They are having to kick in more for benefits such as health care, if they are lucky enough to still have employer-supported plans.

Cash-strapped municipalities are scaling back on services, laying off workers and even going to their unions to seek concessions to help them balance their budgets.

But it’s business as usual when it comes to executive staff raises at this publicly funded university, where enrollment hit a record high of 10,656 last fall, in part because economic times are so dire and so many people are out of work.

How can this be?

In addition, board members approved 2.5 percent raises for James Dwyer, vice president for enrollment management, and Merry Jo Brandimore, vice president for student services. The increase for the two vice presidents was lower than the other executive staff because they were promoted in July last year.

With the raise, Gilbertson now receives $223,664 per year.

“President Gilbertson is doing a great job,” said Board of Control Chairman Dr. K.P. Karunakaran, pointing out the university’s increased enrollment and the opening of the $28 million Health and Human Services building, among other achievements that Gilbertson has “spearheaded.”

“We have a great appreciation for the good work that he is doing,” the chairman said.

With the increases, Bachand’s salary becomes $180,876, while Muladore’s is up to $170,525. Brandimore and Dwyer both will earn $128,125 per year.

BCT: Our objection to Gilbertson’s raise and the raises the others are receiving isn’t tied to their job performance. The university is ably run, if its record enrollment and increased appeal to students from outside mid-Michigan are any indication.

And it remains a value for families. SVSU remains the least expensive of Michigan’s 15 state universities.

No, our gripe with these raises is the timing.

When the 5.9 percent tuition increase was announced last June, Gilbertson said, “None of us like increases. But we have a responsibility to protect the university long term.”

Shouldn’t protecting the university long term also mean doing everything possible to keep tuition affordable in a state that shows no sign of pulling out of the economic doldrums any time soon?

The staff’s raises fall in line with those that the university’s faculty and professional staff are receiving. The faculty, as part of a 2008-approved contract, will receive a 3.25 percent increase, while the professional staff received an average increase of 2.5 percent this year.

BCT: Are taxpayers supposed to accept this sort of reasoning? The faculty and professional staff receive an increase because of a contract approved before the bottom truly fell out of Michigan’s economy, therefore it justifies handing out raises to everyone, even now?

Costs are going up.

Tuition will go up, too, as support from Lansing continues to vanish.

That’s a fact.

For years, state legislators have cut funding for higher education. At one point, the state assumed 75 percent of the cost of educating a university student; tuition covered the other 25 percent. Now those numbers are reversed.

So, we understand the need to increase tuition, but every effort should be made to reduce costs and become more efficient. Handing out raises right now doesn’t send the message that that’s going on.

“The board wanted to keep it 2.5” for the entire executive staff, “considering the economic situation at present,” Karunakaran said. “But because (Gilbertson, Muladore, and Bachand) have been doing a great job, we wanted to show a degree of appreciation.”

BCT: Slap ’em on the back next time and call it good. Surely that gesture would go over better with students and Michigan taxpayers.